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Jose Antonio Vargas: What are Americans doing to 'earn' their citizenship?

Journalist Jose Antonio Vargas has made it his mission to facilitate dialogue about immigration issues in the United States ever since revealing to the public in 2011 that he was an undocumented immigrant himself. In addition to writing about it and directing films around topics like “white privilege,” he’s now launching a new multimedia venture called #EmergingUS, which will explore race and America’s diversity.

Vargas recently sat down with Fusion’s Jorge Ramos to discuss race and immigration in light of the 2016 election. Vargas said that Ramos’ immigrant roots and background are what make him even “more fit” to cover someone like Donald Trump—despite what conservative anchors like Bill O’Reilly have claimed about Ramos. Vargas also raises the interesting question of whether Americans—like immigrants—should also have to “earn” their citizenship.

“I would actually argue that undocumented people in this country show Americans what it is to be an American,” he told Ramos. “Because it’s something you earn, it’s something you fight for. It’s not just something that just lands in your lap.”